# The Buffalo News : World & Nation

Sunday, March 30, 2008

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## New protests break out in Tibet soon after diplomats leave capital

### By Joe McDonald - ASSOCIATED PRESS
Updated: 03/30/08 6:42 AM

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  Associated Press
  A pro-Tibetan activist protests in Greece before an Olympic flame ceremony.

BEIJING — Fresh protests broke out in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa on Saturday as foreign diplomats wrapped up a tightly controlled visit organized by Beijing, according to a radio broadcaster and Tibetan activists.

One protest began at Lhasa’s Ramoche monastery and grew to involve “many people,” said Kate Saunders of the Washington- based International Campaign for Tibet.

Citing unnamed witnesses in the city, Saunders said the situation calmed down after a few hours. She had no information on injuries or arrests.

People also protested at the Jokhang Temple, a major Buddhist site in Lhasa, according to a report on the Web site of the government-in-exile of the Tibetan Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, which is based in India.

Several hundred people took part in the protests, the U.S.- funded broadcaster Radio Free Asia reported.

The Ramoche and Jokhang monasteries and other sites were sealed off by security forces, Saunders said. Ramoche was the original site of protests that spread earlier this month and led to a crackdown by the Chinese government.

The reports of new protests came as a 15-member group of diplomats from the United States, Japan and Europe returned to Beijing after a two-day visit to Lhasa.

The diplomats’ plane left Lhasa at about 1 p.m., according to the U.S. Embassy, an hour before the reported start of the protest at the Ramoche monastery.

The descriptions of new protests could not be independently confirmed, and China issued no immediate response.

Beijing is trying to enforce calm in Tibet and buttress its claim that the most violent anti- Chinese protests since 1989 were incited by forces linked to the Dalai Lama.

Diplomats toured damaged areas of Lhasa and met people selected by Chinese authorities, who accompanied them at all times, the American Embassy said in a brief statement.

“The delegation was not permitted to move about independently in Lhasa and was unable to hold unsupervised conversations with local residents,” it said.

After the March 14 violence in Lhasa, protests spread across ethnic Tibetan areas in neighboring provinces in the most widespread challenge to communist rule since 1989.

Beijing says 22 people were killed in Lhasa, while Tibetan exiles put the overall death toll at 140.

The unrest was a public relations disaster for communist leaders, who want to use the Beijing Olympics to showcase China as a prosperous, stable society.

The Chinese government said Saturday it would pay compensation for people killed in the rioting, give the injured free medical care and help repair homes and businesses.

Families of 18 civilians killed will each receive $28,500, the Xinhua News Agency said, citing an announcement by the Tibet regional government.

Xinhua gave no indication whether there would be compensation for four other official deaths — one police officer and three people who the government says were fleeing arrest.

Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama accused Beijing of “demographic aggression” by encouraging settlers from China’s ethnic Han majority to move to the sparsely Tibetan populated region. He said the number of settlers in Tibet was expected to increase by more than 1 million following the Olympics.

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